Creative Communications

Benefits of Good Communications

• Keeps the chapter active and a known commodity in the community.
• Increases the reach of communication channels with your members.
• Updates nonmembers on the value of RMA membership.
• Adds informational value to a local RMA membership.
• Gives your members a convenient way to stay in touch.
• Alerts members to event locations and times.
• Allows members to get involved and become more involved with the chapter.

Various ways of communicating with members, nonmembers, the Board and RMA HQ

• Face-to-face, voice-to-voice (the human touch).
• The US Postal Service.
• Faxes.
• E-mail.
• Teleconferences, Internet Web conferences, and videoconferences.
• Printed material.
• Chapter Web site.

All these modes of communication have common goals: To inform and educate; to reach all audiences; to create awareness and facilitate networking; and, simply, to spread the word.

How communications work

Face-to-Face or Voicemail
These modes of communication can be the most powerful because they allow each participant to hear, see, and feel the message. This is real, live, and now. This is truly the way to relay the motivation and the emotion behind being a part of the local RMA chapter and a National Associate.

• Talk about membership or chapter goals and plans over a meal.
• Take the opportunity to speak about the upcoming chapter events, educational programs, and membership at each and every chapter event. You will never have a better chance to speak to a group of members or recognize members' accomplishments than at these events.
• Visit the open enrollment classes held in your area and take a few moments to introduce yourself and the speaker.
• Hold events that target specific groups and address their needs.
• Make bank calls with the RMA Regional Executive (RE) in your area to nonmembers (Do you know who your RE is?)
• Make bank calls with the RE to member banks. Learn about the banks' needs.
• Take the board as a whole to lunch or breakfast. Also, take board members individually to lunch or breakfast.
• Make sure to take advantage of every speaking opportunity that presents itself.
• Check in with your RE on a regular basis and attend every HQ conference call as time allows.
• Hold regular face-to-face board meetings.
• Network.
• Hold membership meetings and, for each meeting, invite several nonmembers to attend.
• Do a quick "show-of-hands" survey at the general membership meetings.
• Invite and inform via phone calls.
• Encourage all board members to "talk up" RMA in team meetings at their local banks and other bank employee gatherings. This can be especially helpful in encouraging younger associates (who may not have heard of RMA) to become involved, especially in RMA's Young Professionals Activities.

U.S. Mail
Is it a dinosaur or a hidden treasure?

• Use traditional mail regardless of the other modes of communication you use. Although there is a real cost to this method of communication, some audiences or recipients actually like to receive mail and to physically open a letter to see what is inside.
• Use eye-catching, unusually sized envelopes, postcards, or self-mailers rather than the standard #10 white business envelope. 6"x9" envelopes are great attention getters and cost the same as regular letter-sized mail.
• Make your mailing materials fun and interesting.
• Maintain an up-to-date member and nonmember database. This makes for easy mailings and serves as a tracking tool as well.
• A mailed piece can also serve as a reminder or an introduction to the event or the news.
• People can keep the mailing and refer back to it. Mail is less likely to get lost or accidentally deleted as often happens in an e-mail system.

Faxes:

• Faxes are quick to send, easy to develop, and very informative.
• Broadcast faxes are a cost effective communications vehicle.
• Faxes serve as great reminders.
• Faxing is an effective way to secretly spread the word throughout an organization, because everybody uses the fax machines and often reads other employees' faxes that arrive. They sometimes lie in a basket for days and are seen/read by a large percentage of the staff.
• They will become more important in the future as security within e-mail systems evolve.

E-Mail
This is a powerful tool of technology. There are BIG PROs, but also other things you may want to consider: Should e-mail be your only mode of communication? When you use e-mail, how do you get the recipients to read it and not delete it without even opening it?

Uses:

• An effective way to advertise upcoming events.
• An efficient vehicle for distributing registration forms without postage costs.
• Can track who opened the e-mail and who didn't.
• A timely way to send reminders about upcoming events.
• Effective tool to communicate with other Board members and with your RMA Regional Executive.
• Can use e-mail as a way to meet, brainstorm, handle Board matters, or RMA HQ issues.

Pros:

• E-mail is easy to use and the communication is almost real-time.
• E-mail can be done at the same time as another task, whereas a telephone conversation or a meeting does not allow that flexibility.
• E-mail is a great way to distribute reminders and to get a response in less time... in other words, a quicker turnaround time.
• You can send a lot of information via an attachment(s).
• Can include links to other Web sites, such as the chapter Web site.
• E-mail is a time-saver.

Factors to keep in mind:

• Some systems are unable to communicate well with other systems. The user might be unable to open the e-mail or the attachment.
• Be CAREFUL how and what you write in your e-mail. E-mails tend not to transmit feelings or more of the human touch than other forms of communication like the traditional letter. Keep in mind that the reader of an e-mail message can and will read it the exact way it sounds on paper or on the computer screen. Because there is no emotion or change in voice or intonation with an e-mail, you have to be very careful that what you write will not be misinterpreted.
• Some corporate systems block e-mail addresses and treat many e-mails as SPAM.
• Make sure what you send is virus-free.
• Sometimes people get overloaded with e-mail due to its ease and popularity; therefore it can sometimes get deleted in order to clear space.
• Too many e-mail messages can be viewed as a nuisance and actually annoy a user.

Getting your e-mails opened, read, and answered:

• Attach a confirm delivery and return receipt to the e-mail.
• Make your emails more colorful and eye-catching. In other words, dress them up so that they are not so bland.
• Make sure they are sent with an intriguing Subject Line to attract the reader's interest. Don't get too catchy or security patrols will block the e-mail.
• When broadcasting an e-mail, use short paragraphs and avoid using words that will make it sound like SPAM.
• If it is an important e-mail, then set it out from all the rest.

Teleconferences, Video Conferences, and Web Conferences:

• Teleconferences are easy to set up (video and Web conferences are a little trickier). All board members must have the capacity to use all communications vehicles.
• Costs are associated with communications, depending on where you work, so be prepared to ask for a donation of the resources you need.
• These are easy ways to gather everyone together in a direct contact communication channel. They allow the participants to actually accomplish two or three tasks at once. This is especially important because everyone is so time-conscious these days.
• Make sure to keep the conference focused, on task, and to the point. Try to avoid a lot of "dead" air time (where there's no conversation…no one is speaking).
• Have an agenda ready and poll the participants to find out what issues they would like to discuss.
• In your initial meeting notice, ask for RSVP's in advance so you'll know who's supposed to be on the call. At the beginning, ask each participant to state their name. Always do a roll call. This will make it easier to control the flow, and prevent everyone from trying to say their names at the same.
• Ask questions that allow for feedback and then specifically direct that question to each of the participants (do not call on them out of the blue as a teacher would). Develop a format that really allows everyone to share their thoughts without embarrassing or offending them. One way is to ask the question or outline the issue and go down the list of attendees.
• If you are videoconferencing, remember that everyone can see you or who ever else is on the video, so watch your body language.

Printed Material:

• Letters are a great way to communicate, reward, recognize, announce, invite, inform, or thank someone. (Samples of letters to senior associates, members, event organizers, board recognition, as well as thank you communications to new members or speakers are available from your RMA RE.)
• Informational brochures on what your chapter and RMA are all about.
• Agendas, meeting notes, budgets, committee reports, task and duty forms, chapter plans.
• Calendar of events
• Newsletters!
• Flyers (easy to mail).
• Invitations, banners, signs.

WEB Sites:
Web sites are the wave of the future, and the future is now. As the world gets more and more computer literate, Web sites are becoming more and more prevalent. Why not jump on board?… It's free! (See below). A Web site has many advantages and requires minimal maintenance. It provides the members a place to check on events, chapter news, and RMA news without having to contact anyone personally or wait for an announcement or information they may never receive. It is a great way to recognize, inform, and invite.

RMA can help:

• The Web site is absolutely FREE!
• RMA makes all additions and changes, at no cost to your chapter!
• RMA designs and maintains the site in the chapters section of www.rmahq.org.

Here's what you need to provide:

• Chapter history. (RMA HQ can help you write this.)
• A chapter board roster.
• Contact information for at least one chapter representative.
• The latest chapter newsletter.
• List of upcoming events.
• Chapter news.
• Young Professional/Affinity Group information (if available).

You can also put these items on your site:

• Photos.
• Membership highlights.
• Your RMA membership roster.
• Links to Web sites of interest.
• Newsletters.
• Volunteer profiles/spotlights.
• A calendar of events.

Getting started::

• For the Northeast and Sunbelt Regions, e-mail your chapter information to Anna Shuman (e-mail: ashuman@rmahq.org).
• For the Central and Western Regions, e-mail your chapter information to Rosemarie Casler (e-mail: rcasler@rmahq.org).
• It takes about 30 days to get your site ready for your review.
• After the initial design is complete, we ask that you review it and make any necessary changes or additions.
• You can update your site once a year, or as often as you like…it's up to you!

Surveys and evaluations:

• Communication is a two-way street. Never miss an opportunity to survey your members (and nonmembers) to find out about their needs, desires, and expectations for the chapter. Surveys can be conducted during membership meetings, as part of regular chapter communications, or by phone, as needed.
• Evaluations are powerful tools in improving the delivery and content of the chapter's offerings.
• Evaluations help your chapter identify your successes and areas needing improvement.
• Both surveys and evaluations are excellent ways to recruit new members and identify volunteers.

For more information and for additional resources, please contact William Githens at bgithens@rmahq.org or 215-446-4124 or contact the Regional Manager for your area.